Woodworkers don’t seem to forget this very often, but small business marketers do.

I managed an ad campaign over the past few weeks that reminded me how valuable it is to measure.

I had things roughed in and had built out the landing page for the ads. I had the final go-ahead, and then realized I hadn’t made a graphic for the ad itself. I didn’t have much time before my next appointment and further delay was not an option.

So, I made a graphic very quickly. I reused a photo that was already open in Photoshop and wrote the first copy that came to mind. I didn’t spend any time adjusting the wording. I just checked the spelling and set the ad to run.

Not long ago, I wrote about how advertising works. I used the analogy of a boy at a middle school dance who has spent absurd amounts of time making himself look great, but none into asking anyone to dance.

That post covered the need for an ad to inspire action. This month, let’s look at how to do that, and the big mistake that great ads never make.

(Note: When I talk about ads, I’m talking about websites, print ads, TV ads, fundraising letters… everything. This has very broad applications.)

Everyone is selfish. It’s a fact. When faced with a spending decision, we’re out to get the most benefit we can. Ignoring this simple fact is one of the most common mistakes made in advertising.

Many ads simply display a brand and look nice. Some ask the reader to buy, which is a major step up from just showing off how great you look. But, it’s not enough. Such an ad is being selfish while forgetting that the reader is also selfish.

Advertising is sort of a unique endeavor in many ways. A lot of business owners want to help with it–or get input from their friends and family–even though they don’t know anything about it. That doesn’t happen with the bookkeeping or janitorial tasks.

I think part of the problem is that people misunderstand how advertising works.

I have seen a fair number of business owners and managers agonizing over marketing materials and ads, getting lots of input and making lots of tweaks. Their focus is almost entirely on how they come across, how they look.[Read more…]

I bet you’ve noticed this growing trend in online advertising, even if you don’t know what to call it or how it works. You do some browsing around, maybe look at some things on Amazon or research some new software. Then, you start seeing ads for what you just looked at… all over the web.

It’s called remarketing, and it’s going to become even more common. Why?

There are a couple things about Facebook ads that Zuckerberg would prefer I didn’t tell you. But, you should be informed.

First off, you may remember the Page Like Story and Sponsored Story ads I’ve discussed. They’re the ones that tell your friends that you’ve “Liked” something in hopes of getting people to follow your excellent lead. They do work well, but Facebook had a bit of legal trouble with them.

It turns out there was no way to opt out of having your “Likes” shown to others. A handful of users sued Facebook about this and the case was settled for $20 million — half for lawyers, half for charity. Also, you’ll now be able to opt out having your “Likes” publicized.

If the case had gone forward, Facebook could have been looking at a class action with 100 million members. I think they’re pretty happy with the outcome.

The other thing you should be aware of is that Facebook ads are really bad at sending traffic to your website.

My experience with this echoes what I’ve heard from others. If you set up an ad on Facebook that is a link to your own website rather than your Facebook Page, it’s not going to do you much good.

When people are on Facebook, they don’t seem to want to leave. If they do click your ad and land on your website, they won’t stay long. I’ve seen bounce rates over 90% and average time on site less than 10 seconds from these ads.

It’s a big waste of money.

It’s a different story when your ad leads people to your Facebook Page. Assuming there’s something beyond self promotional content on it, you could convert 30% or more into fans.

Once you have a fan, you can reach them over and over again. That’s how you get them onto your website — get them to “Like” you first, then invite them over for milk and cookies.

Just be sure to keep the blatant self promotion to a minimum.

Here are a few things you can post to get Facebook fans onto your site:

Interesting blog posts

Photos

Engaging videos

Contests

Coupons or discounts (You know, self promotion disguised as a favor.)

Mix that with some curated content — good stuff you find on other websites — and you’ll have a better Page than most.

Speaking of curated content, you might find these links about content strategy helpful:

In part one of this two-part post, I mentioned that I don’t really like Facebook. Between then and now, I’ve come to like it even less. You see, I spent all that time explaining how certain aspects of Facebook advertising works, and they changed the entire interface before I could write the Exciting Conclusion!

So it goes with the digital age.

Let’s have a quick look at the new interface and I’ll show you how to find the Page Like Story option that I raved about previously. Then I’ll show you another kind of “sponsored story” and how to use the two types of ads together.

We’ll wrap up with the reason you should have a Facebook advertising account even if you aren’t running ads.[Read more…]

I don’t really care for Facebook. I bet you don’t exactly love it either. Maybe you even hate it. The problem is that you have to use it these days or you’ll be left in the dust.

Seriously. Facebook gets as much traffic as Google. Despite this, people don’t really like it. One survey found that user satisfaction with Facebook was on par with the IRS or airlines. That’s pretty bad.

Here’s the good news: You can succeed on Facebook, no matter how much you dislike it. I’m referring to success in a business sense, of course. I’m sure you can find some help elsewhere if you’re worried about succeeding socially.

First off, let’s be clear about your objective on Facebook. Bring in more money? No. That comes later. To succeed on Facebook, your goal has to be to build an engaged community with a common interest.

People aren’t on Facebook to be sold things. There isn’t usually commercial intent with a Facebook user. There’s social intent. Engage with your audience socially and they’ll be more likely to remember you when they do have commercial intent.

So, you know your objective. How do you get there? If you want to skip to the advanced stuff, scroll down the the Sponsored Stories header below.

First, you need a Facebook Page for yourself or your organization. That part’s easy.

Numbers 6 and 7 will mean giving Facebook some money, but they are also the most effective ways of promoting your page. Sponsored stories are particularly potent, though widely misunderstood.

Since regular ads are fairly self explanatory, let’s jump right into Sponsored Stories.

Sponsored Stories

[Note: The interface for setting up sponsored stories was changed between the time this post showed up in my email newsletter and when it was posted here. It all works the same, but the interface has been rearranged.]

If you’re like I was, you’re thinking, “but I don’t have a story worth promoting.” Forget what you know as a story. Facebook has co-opted the word and is using it to describe something else. (Have you noticed they have a habit of doing that sort of thing? Ugh.)

There are a few kinds of Sponsored stories. I’m going to focus on just one of them, Page Like Stories.

My friends might see an ad like this.

A Page Like Story shows an ad for your Facebook Page with a Like button. The difference is it only shows this to people who are friends of anyone who has ever liked your page. And, it shows them that their friend has liked the page.

They are ads that come with social endorsement. Everyone has developed some ad-blindness these days. Our eyes are hard to catch. Show us a picture of a friend and we’ll look. That’s what makes these sponsored stories so powerful.

It gets even better, though. Not only are you targeting people who are one degree of separation from being a fan already, but you can further narrow down your targeting by interest. How about an example?

You run a business in lovely Chapel Hill, North Carolina. You sell lots and lots of UNC gear — jerseys, bumper stickers, sky blue face paint, that sort of thing. You can run a Page Like Story to expose your Page to the friends of your current fans. Lots of them are probably in and around Chapel Hill, so that’s great. But, as anyone familiar with this area knows, there are other schools that people like… and they tend to feel quite strongly about this. A Duke fan will never like your page, even if they happen to have a friend who does. So, you target your Page Like Story to people interested in UNC, Tarheels, The Daily Tarheel, and anything else that makes sense. Now your Page Like Story will only appear to friends of fans who actually like UNC.

Can’t You Just Get Your Fans to Spread the Word

Once upon a time, Facebook would expose your page to people every time one of their friends liked something you posted. No longer. They are trying to monetize now, as they stare down the barrel of an IPO.

Around November 1, 2011, Facebook Pages started getting more paid impressions than organic impressions. It was the other way around for a long time prior. Now they show more ads and make it harder for you to get organic impressions. It will probably get worse, too.

Advertising on Facebook is pretty affordable, though. It’s also pretty easy to get up and running with it.